tight turning

[Francis]

I have a question that I know you will be able to help with. I have an X with a 9.9 motor with a right handed prop spinn, and the motor is not attached to the steering like the 50hp are. I took the boat out for the first time this year and thought I'd practice some moves which I haven't really done before. I was trying to practice spinning the boat around in as stationary of a position as I could. I was trying to turn in tight quarters. Anyway, I had both rudders down and the centerboard down all the way and tried turning the wheel all the way to the port and putting the motor in reverse. When the boat started to go backwards, then I put it in forward and left the wheel to port. That didn't seem to work, then I tried putting the wheel to starboard and doing the same thing, but that didn't seem to work. Whatever I did didn't seem to work out.What would be the proper method to accomplish this??
Also, let me see if this is right. To move the stern to port I would turn the wheel to port and put it in reverse, and to pull the stern to starboard I would turn the wheel to starboard and put the motor into reverse. Now what advise can you give me. I would like to do the spinning around without just turning the motor to do this.
Thanks, I look forward to your methods.

[DLT]

I turn the wheel hard over to port and put the motor in gear, forward. Then when the bot starts to move, I go to neutral, then reverse, as I'm turning hard over to starboard. Just keep repeating and you can spin all day long...

You need to alternate direction of both the rudders and the motor (forward/reverse)...

[Chip Hindes]

The key is, when the motor is not attached to the steering gear, you can't just put it in a given gear (forward/reverse) and expect something to happen. The boat must actually be moving thorugh the water or the rudders will have no effect.

For instance if you want to spin the boat to the left:

Turn the wheel hard right and put the boat in reverse. As soon as you get some reverse motion, shift to forward gear, but do not turn the wheel. As the reverse motion stops, only then quickly spin the wheel hard left. I use my finger on the spoke and can go lock to lock in a few seconds. As soon as you get some forward motion, shift to reverse, but again, do not turn the wheel until forward motion stops. Practice this a few times in open water, and you'll be able to spin the boat in its own length plus only a few feet.

BTW, there's no reason I can see why just because you have a small motor you can't connect it to the steering.

[DLT]

Chip is right that you should be able to connect your motor to the steering, that is if it not a tiller. Heck, I suppose you could even connect it if it was a tiller, but it would be more complicated and less useful...

Anyway, Chip is also right about the rudders being useless unless the boat is moving through the water. You can, of course, use this to your advantage by turning the wheel when the boat's motion stops... If you time everything just right, you can spin really smoothly...

[Night Sailor]

With a 4 blade 12" prop on my Merc 50 at idle, it moves right along and spins in about 15 seconds. Expect to take a bit longer with the 9.9 3 blade prop because the smaller prop just won't have the bite a larger one does, even at higher engine speed. I love to leave my dock in reverse and do a 180 spin to confound the powerboat guys watching from their big twin screw houseboats... they can onlly dream of having our maneuverability...

[Russell]

Keep in mind guys that right handed props back to port already. You technically don't need to turn the wheel at all. In this situation more prop walk is a good thing.

Hard to starboard to start the turn. Keep the wheel in the same direction throughout the entire maneuver. Reverse to stop forward progress. Slight burst of forward to continue the turning momentum and repeat.

With some practice you can turn the boat within its own length.

[Dan B]

Agree with Russell. That is how I do it. No need to keep turning the wheel from side to side - use the throttle and take advantage of prop walk. You can probably turn a tighter circle to starboard than to port with a right handed prop.

I chartered a Hunter 356 on the Chesapeake and hard to turn it 360 degrees within two finger piers with only a boat length plus about 10 feet. Pretty scary, but the above procedure does work.

[Catigale]

Known in sailing circles as Back and Fill

most recently used when I chartered a Cat 34 out of Long beach and overshot my slip on returning in a narrow marina...I just pivoted the boat on the keel to re-align myself with the slip, then centred everything and glided in - no hits, no errors, no insurance claims

My power boat buddy asked "How did you do that??"

[Francis]

Thanks everyone, I knew you all would come through. I will try this out nest time I go out. It will sure be nice to master this turn.
Thanks again

[MAC26X]

I enjoyed reading the "back and fill". I'll try it with the Honda 50. My guess is don't expect as much prop walk on the outboards on our boats. Even the Honda 50 has a smaller prop than a geared down diesel.

I rented a keel boat for a weekend many years ago. It had a 7.5 Evinrude for a kicker, with no motor controls at the helm. You had to duck under the rear lifelines to start, shift, and adjust throttle. The tiny prop did propel the boat OK but there was little advantage to steering with the motor and virtually NO ability to brake using reverse. I just left it pointing straight ahead and steered with the rudder. For docking, you had to estimate when to shift to neutral and coast to a stop. Putting it in reverse (took 5 secs to get down there to do it) had no real braking effect because the prop was so small a diameter.

That was good. The wheel helm with a big motor and helm linkage was one of my "must haves" when we shopped for our own boat. One of the great Mac features.

[Catigale]

I learned back and fill from a KIWI who takes me out on San Fran Bay regularly and always teaches me a lot...

Centerboard or daggerboard MUST be down btw...

[Frank C]

Stephen,
Great website, and very interesting video on that pivot turn. Do you use it on your Mac?

Seems from here that it's mainly inttended for a fixed inboard prop, usually mounted ahead of the rudder. Since my outboard is connected directly to the wheel linkage (95% of the time), reverse gear with my wheel to hard to starboard will definitely pull my hull's stern to starboard, not portside. I guess it might work if the outboard was fixed to the rudder post, holding it dead-ahead.
Whatcha think?

[Catigale]

reverse gear with my wheel to hard to starboard will definitely pull my hull's stern to starboard, not portside.

To back and fill the Mac you do have to bring the wheel hard to port to back the stern to port, and then hard to starboard to fill and move the bow to starboard in my experience

Centerboard must be down

Motor connected to the rudders will help spin the boat faster as well

[nemo]

While trying to pivot in a tight circle, a key thing to remember, when you reverse the engine, remember that it takes a few moments for the boat to actually change direction. Have patience and don't turn the steering wheel until the boat actually stops and is starting to move in the opposite direction. Otherwise you loose some progress in the turn.

This is the first thing that Ray taught us at BWY when we picked up our new boat so credit goes to him for this handy tidbit.